Understanding The Plagiarism Spectrum

 In today's blog, I'm excited to share the new learning that I had acquired during our previous discussion in our EAPP class, where we explored the concept of the "Plagiarism Spectrum." In this blog post, we'll not only understand what plagiarism is but also explore the ten distinct types of Plagiarism Spectrum. By the time you've finished reading this blog, you'll be able to differentiate between the various forms of plagiarism and, more importantly, know how to avoid unintentional plagiarism.

 

The spectrum plagiarism describes a group of activities or behaviors that involve copying ideas, works, or other intellectual property without giving proper credit. It ranges from accidental and unintentional copying to deliberate cheating, including actions like reusing your own work without disclosure, copying from the internet without attribution, or pretending you did work on your own that was actually a group effort. The ten categories of plagiarism spectrum includes Clone, Ctrl+C, Find-replace, Remix, eecycle, hybrid, mash Up, 404 Error, Aggregator, and Re-tweet.

Clone plagiarism is the submission of another person's work as your own without any modifications. CTRL+C contains significant portions of text that are unchanged from a single source. Find-replace means changing key words and phrases while keeping the source's fundamental ideas. Remixes are several paraphrases linked together from different sources. Recycle is reusing one's own work, either fully or partially, without proper citation, for a new assignment or course. Hybrids include copied passages without citation along with perfectly cited sources. Mashup combines content from a range of sources that has been duplicated. The 404 error is citing sources that don't exist, fabricating references, or falsely attributing sources to make it seem like you've done research. Aggregator is properly citing individual sources but fails to provide original analysis, insights, or ideas or contains almost no original work. Lastly, Re-Tweet contains accurate citations but heavily depends on the original wording or structure of the text.

You might be unsure of the distinction between clone and Ctrl+C given how similar they are. The difference between the two is that while Ctrl-C plagiarism involves copying significant portions of a work without changing them, clone plagiarism entails copying the entire work without making any modifications. And to the distinction between a remix and a mashup, the major difference is that a remix incorporates copied content from many sources without much rephrasing or altering, but a mashup does not.

It is important to know the ten types of plagiarism spectrum for us to know what situations are to be considered plagiarizing and prevent it. This teaches us to write honestly and always give attribution to the rightful owner. It will help us improve our capabilities and become good writers.

Happy writing!